Mulching types of lawn mowers are generally not new in the industry, and the prior art is already aware of some constructions of mulching types of mowers. These mowers are of a nature where the grass clippings or the leaves or the like which are engaged by the mower cutters are not permitted to be blown into a catcher or even simply beyond the lateral confines of the housing itself, but instead the cuttings are dropped below the housing and are then left on the lawn to gravitate into the turf and to ultimately decay and disappear. As such, the prior art type of mulching mower does not require that the clippings be caught in a catcher or that they be raked from the lawn, but instead the clippings are left on the lawn and are ultimately assimilated by the lawn itself. A prior art example of a mower which has a mulching type of action is found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,737,772 where the cutter member is arranged so that the clippings are cut into short lengths and can therefore be digested by the lawn. Other examples of U.S. Patents which show housing and/or cutter arrangements in mulching rotary mowers are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,576,884; 2,675,662; 2,719,296; 2,809,488; 2,857,727; 2,973,614; 3,003,298; and 3,085,386.
In addition to the above with regard to arrangements of housings and/or cutters for rotary mowers, the prior art is already aware of various flaps or guards which extend across the rear of a rotary mower for the purpose of protecting the user from injury, and though that is not the purpose in the present invention, those prior art arrangements are referred to herein and are found in examples of U.S. patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,514,407 and 2,659,191 and 2,692,466 and 2,963,842 and 2,973,613 and 3,378,995 and 3,524,307 and 3,555,793 and 3,727,386. The aforementioned list is representative of patents which have members extending rearwardly of the mower, though those members are primarily for safety purposes and are therefore different from the herein disclosed rearwardly disposed flaps as described hereinafter.
Accordingly, the present invention is an improvement upon the prior art type of mulching mowers, and particularly, the present invention provides a mulching mower wherein the clippings are cut into short lengths and are then brushed into the remaining grass or turf and are left to decay and are not left on top of the grass. As such, the present invention provides a mulching mower which eliminates the necessity for collecting the clippings in a bag or for raking the grass after it is cut in order to remove the cut clippings.
Still further, the present invention provides a mulching type of lawn mower wherein the mower is provided with two flaps at the rear thereof and with the flaps being of different elevations so that there is a forwardly located flap at a higher elevation for primary combing of the cut grass into the turf and the trailing flap extends to a lower elevation for additional combing of the clippings into the turf. Also, in the present invention, the two flaps are of a different flexibility, and thus the lower extending flap will flex or bend more when it is encountered by the ground. Still further, the present invention provides a mulching type mower having adjustable wheels and with the flaps being arranged to accommodate the wheel adjustment, such as by having a flexible flap extending downwardly to the ground but never being engaged by the ground even at the time when the mower housing is in its lowest position.
Still further, the present invention provides a mulching type of lawn mower wherein there are two grass clipping combing panels disposed at the rear end of the mower, and one of the panels is flexible for adjustable engagement of the ground, and the mower itself is provided with adjustable wheels and with a plurality of cutters which cut the clippings into short lengths. That is, the entire mower is arranged with the combination of elements suitable and adaptable for disposing the clippings in the turf and thereby avoiding the requirements of either catching the clippings or raking the clippings from the turf. As such, the cutter is arranged to cut the clippings into short lengths and to blow the clippings downwardly into the turf, and the trailing panel finally combs the clippings into the turf.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawings.